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Slimeo
Michael Christchurch, better known as Slimeo (born September 5, 1969) is an New Zealand-American musician, DJ, animator, actor, comedian and multi-instrumentalist, best known for his contributions to the EDM band WN and several other groups. History Slimeo was born in 1969 at National Women's Hospital in Auckland, New Zealand. His father, Hendrikus van der Pol, was a Dutch jazz bassist who played with Sun Ra and the band on The Merv Griffin Show. His mother, Beth Switzer, was a American squatter and anarchist. He and his family lived in many different places across across the world growing up, including Pyongyang, Beijing, London, Paris, West Berlin, East Berlin, and Gothenburg, before settling in Detroit, Michigan, United States when he was 12. He is a close cousin of marathon runner Kathrine Switzer on his mother's side and actress Anneliese van der Pol on his father's side. Despite his father being Dutch, his parents didn't get him applied for Dutch-American citizenship, and this resulted in him being both a New Zealand and American citizen since his day of birth. When he was 13, he joined the Mini-Arkestra, a offshoot of Sun Ra's Arkestra by his father with Sun Ra's blessing. Slimeo played synthesizers, jazz guitar, and double bass. His first EP, Slimeo was released in 1986 on his Slimeo label, a precursor to EVOLVE Records. The entire EP was recorded in the backroom of a liquor store on Cedar Point that he worked at in 8 days, under less-than-professional conditions. So much so that listeners with finely tuned ears, and a copy of the original vinyl release, may be able to hear the sounds of traffic, the occasional car horn, and customers shopping in the background. He signed a major label deal with EMI America in 1989, and released fifteen albums for the label. At the height of his popularity, he customized his own tour bus out of a disused MBTA commuter bus, because he couldn't afford a real tour bus. He stuck a couch in the front, a portable oven and sink and a bunk bed in the middle, and used the rear to store all his synthesizers, turntables, and other equipment. By 1992, he had become a major touring act, both in the EDM community and in the mainstream, accomplishing such milestones as selling out both Radio City Music Hall and the Tacoma Dome, making his national television debut on Saturday Night Live, earning radio play and an MTV music video with the song "Radio" from his album Slimeo '92, and performing to huge crowds in arenas and large theaters. In 1994, he hosted his first music festival, "The Pro-Consumerism Party," held at the Pheasant Lane Mall in Nashua, New Hampshire, which, at the time, was managed by longtime fan Murray Wasowski. It was a free show and, like all of his future festivals, was an outdoor camp out that closed out him and all of his projects' summer tours. Slimeo moved to Corvallis, Oregon after the founding of WN. Slimeo then teamed up with Pendulum and Knife Party member, Rob Swire, and created the Drum and Bass project, Code Z. Not only did he start a new music project, he also started his own stand-up comedy tour titled, "Slimeo's Big Book Of Bad Things". In June 2006, while making the Code Z debut album, he had an disagreement with his label, EMI. At a certain point, he left a CD-R with a song demo inside a manila folder saying, "21Razor and Nine Inch Nails. In Progress - Demo. Still in works." on the front desk of EMI's London headquarters and left. The picture of the CD was put up by EMI announcing the new song, a collaboration with Nine Inch Nails by Slimeo under the name, 21Razor. In December 2016, Slimeo annouced he was creating a new music festival called "WN Presents: Blackstar Festival" The music festival would be hosted at the Benton County Fairgrounds in Corvallis and it would includes a "power line-up" of artists and bands including Pendulum, Nine Inch Nails, Kiiara, The Prodigy, and many more Artists and bands. He also announced that this festival will be the first festival to include the RAM Arena from the South West Four festival and would be the first RAM Arena show in the U.S.A. The First RAM Arena U.S.A. was made by EVOLVE Records in collaboration with U.K. Drum and Bass label, RAM Records. On June 3rd, 2017, Slimeo released his first 10-minute short animated film entitled, "Complexity", on El Rey Network as part of The People's Network. The short film follows the story of Nick as he goes through a series of trippy, complex, and insane events to reach certain goal of obtaining a legendary blade. In March 2018, Slimeo announced he would be doing a special edition of "Saturday Night Hot-Mix" on Oregon radio station, 104.7 KDUK. It's said to be themed around EDM and Drum & Bass tracks, making it a first for KDUK. It will also contain his own tracks into the mix, some being reworks of his old songs and new ones from his upcoming album under his Slimeo alias. It's set to happen on June 22nd, the same day his upcoming album will release. Discography Slimeo Albums * Slimeo '92 (1992) * '92 Live (1993) TBA! EPs * Slimeo (1986) TBA! Singles * Radio (1992) TBA! WN Albums * Generation (2005) * Generation - LIVE (2007) TBA! EPs TBA! Singles * Begin (2004) TBA! Controversies In 2017, at a concert on his I Am Slimeo solo tour at Boston's Cutler Majestic Theatre, Slimeo publicly called the Hyde Square Task Force, a teen organization who had investigated the TD Garden's failure to hold fundraising events, "a bunch of crybabies" and "protest wieners." The Task Force responded negatively and Slimeo apologized for his speech. Equipment * Moog Minimoog Model D (1975 original plus a 2016 reissue) * Polymoog (1975 original) * Multimoog (1978 original) * Memorymoog (1981 original) * Moog Source (1981 original) * Roland Jupiter-80 * Pi-top Raspberry Pi Laptop (Green-colored) * Dell Inspiron Mini 10V Nickelodeon Edition Netbook Computer * Fender Starcaster (2013 reissue, Natural-colored) * Roland AIRA TR-8 Rhythm Performer * Roland TR-09 Boutique Rhythm Performer * Roland TR-08 Sound Module * Gretsch Guitars G6136B-TP-AWT Tom Petersson Signature Electric Bass Guitar (Aged White) ** DR Strings BZ-50 Bootzilla Signature Bass Strings Category:Cast & Crew